Hello Peeps!
Yes, you read that title correctly, credit cards being aimed at children! Now I know people can’t have credit until they’re 18, but the subliminal message that credit is fun, normal and even essential is being rammed into our kids’ brains…and I don’t like it!
I was watching TV the other evening and a Barclaycard advert came on, featuring the Muppets! First I was mad with Barclaycard, then I was mad with whoever gave them the rights to do it (because they tarnished some of my favourite characters) and then I had the awful realisation that children would enjoy this advert!! What the heck do they think they’re playing at?!
This was confirmed to me when I took my daughter to see Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom on Friday (a film with a young audience) and they showed that advert and another I’d never seen before…which was worse! 2 credit ads in the 15-20mins before a family film. Disgraceful.
This second advert was for American Express (they actually managed to play adverts for 2 of the most complained about credit cards!). The message behind this one was more sinister; Barclaycard was using the Muppets to look fun and summery but this went deeper. The advert basically shows lots of fun adults drinking coffee, hiking, playing with babies and literally uses the words “American Express: Don’t live life without it.” I just…. there are no words for the despair.
We need the rules to be changed, the government is worried about our children’s diet and education (and rightly so), but not their financial security?? This needs to change.
Please educate your children on the sleepless nights that debt gives people, the harassment these companies dish out and what the real cost is. Please don’t let them be sucked in.
I’m sorry not to have a more joyful topic for you but it needed to be said.
Thanks for listening.
Anna x
A Peace of Life 